Dark Serenade
by Gray Visions
Summary: Justice is bloodied as the wicked are punished in ways that blur the lines between good and evil. A rogue demon hides among the people of Paragon as another man fights against his own inner demons and, as they meet, all Hell breaks lose. Literally.


Author: Gray Visions

**Disclaimer:** Many of the characters in this story are original; owned and created by me. The setting, however, takes place in the world of City of Heroes. City of Heroes is owned and copyrighted by NCSoft. This story will contain a massive amount of violence and adult themes, because that's what I consider fun and entertaining. I plan for this to be a long storyline but working on it will take time, as time is not something I have a lot of. Updates will be far-between but they will come. I love constructive criticism, but only when it comes from other authors. If you do not and/or never have written anything, keep critique to yourself (thanks in advance). Comments otherwise are always accepted with gratitude, whether positive or negative, provided they are offered in a mature and respectful way.

In short; if you're going to be an ass, shut up. Thanks for reading.

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**Prelude **

Deep within the depths of a hellish limbo are a race of powerful demonic entities, seperated from the rest of reality because of their overwhelming and uncontrollable influence. Within every one of these beings lies a god-like power to which no defense could outlast. Despite this, the race is not entirely evil. Indeed, though quick to kill, there lies an honor within their race; a respect for even their victims. It is this respect that forced the creation of their limbo, the most powerful of their race combining their powers to create a dimensional rift that twisted reality and created their now-home, the Veil; with power as great as theirs, it was necessary to seal themselves off from the rest of life, for none could truly flourish in their presence.

Despite these efforts, all that is done can be undone, and all it takes is one person with the knowledge and will. One man, Dr. Daniel Sheridon, sought to do so. Possessing knowledge thought lost countless centuries ago, he sought to control the power behind the Veil, to control one of the demons in his search for absolute power. With the help of the Circle of Thorns, a psychotic cult hell-bent on the destruction of the natural world, Daniel Sheridon performed the ceremony to summon a demonic being from beyond the Veil in hopes to control it and its power.

Yet, though they had the power to force this creature into our world, they had not the power to control it. In a rage, the demon slaughtered his summoners and would-be master, leaving only dismembered bodies to attest to their folley. Neither the demon, nor Dr. Sheridan's head, were ever found.

In time, the facts were forgotten; the circle of power, the bodies, the sacrifice and all other proof of their activities were lost in memory. Eventually, the summoning of the demon became little more than a myth to scare off would-be sorcerers from the arcane, the actual demon never found or even proven to have been successfully summoned. Many psychics and other beings attuned with the supernatural, however, claim to feel the demon's presence, somewhere in this world. The only one to have ever tried to locate it, however, lost his mind in the process, and spent the rest of his life in a coma. It is rumored the demon destroyed the man's mind, but since the incident none have attempted to learn otherwise. Thus, the rumor forever stayed just that.

Still, one has to wonder if, somewhere, a demon walks among us...

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**Chapter 1: Dark Justice**

Balanced perfectly upon the edge of a building, he watches the going on's below him. A man with a grocery bag in one hand, a child in the other, passes him by, completely unaware of his presence in the shadows. He'd been watching the man for some time, him and the group following behind. They were men, about four in number, burly punks trying to look casual and failing. The man they followed posed no threat to them, but that wasn't the point. They were bored bullies looking for fun, and just a small group from a gang calling themselves the Hellions. The Hellions were beginning to become a very major problem in the city of Atlas, a place already plagued by evils seemingly lurking in every shadow and sewer. Fortunately, it was also the birth place of many a Hero, eager to make their namesake by bringing in today's big baddy.

He was only here to meet someone when he saw what looked like a bad situation waiting to happen and, as the men began to quicken their pace, he made his move. With a moment's concentration he 'blinked' out of focus, disappearing from his perch atop the building to almost instantly appear in front of the man and his child. The little girl gasped, the man taking a step back. He looked at them, eyes burning with power, fists surrounded by a bright pink glow.

"Run." he said.  
"W-what!?" the man questioned, shocked, clutching the girl closer to him.  
"Run!" he yelled, then launched himself forward.

The girl cried out at his sudden lunged, her father pulling her towards him as he threw himself to the side. The father looked up in time to see a great ball of fire explode against the other man's chest. He looked unphased, surrounded by a visible aura. He was dressed in black, leather pants clinging tightly to his body, tucked into flared black boots. His torso was exposed save for barely-there fabric in the shape of an upside down 'V' expanding from his neck down over his chest, a clasp at the center of his chest keeping a billowing black cape in place. On his shoulders were two large plates of armor, the same black as most of his outfit save for hints of a lush pinkish purple, the same color as the power surging from his eyes and fists. His ears were pointed, accentuated by a mask that covered most of his head and forehead but left his face bare and open, an opening at the top of his mask left for a blonde mohawk to protrude. His face was chiseled and serious, a small patch of hair on his chin softening his features to something almost human, lest he look more like a villain than the bad guys themselves. Both the man's appearance and pure size, standing like a monstrously tall mountain of muscle, left the father deathly afraid even though obviously he'd just been saved.

Standing a few feet away from the costumed man were 4 other men, looking like nothing special save for the power they stood wielding. One man hands were glowing with fire, another's were surrounded by ice. Behind him stood 2 men with bits of stone clinging to various body parts. _Hellions,_ the father thought.

The firey one whisled and laughed, "Another Mask, eh? You guys are a dime a-" he'd started to say but stopped suddenly as the man he'd been taunting blinked out of view and appeared before him in an instant.  
The man's huge hands encompassed the fire-wielder's head and jerked backwards, snapping his neck with a sickening pop. "My name is Victor. Remember it on your way to hell." said the costumed man, holding the limp body of the fire-wielder by his hair like some nightmarish rag doll.

The half-dead man stared out at nothing as his body slowly succumed the the cold hands of death. Most people think that a snapped neck means instant death, but it doesn't. Severed from the brain, your body loses it's ability to work and blood pours from your head internally. It's a slow death, a brutal one, like suffocating a man already chained down. The father screamed inside of his head, forcing himself to move as he gathered his child and ran, leaving his groceries behind.

The man with ice surrounding his arms took a step back, "Y-you're not supposed to do that..."  
Victor just stared at the three left standing, tossing the man in his hand aside like so much trash. "You're a hero! Your kind doesn't kill!" the iced man said in disbelief.  
"Maybe _your_ kind will get the message this time." Victor said and started towards them.

One of the men with stoned flesh ran screaming, the other launched himself at Victor. His fist, its pink glow blasting to life with a sudden surge of power, shot forward to meet the stone man in the chest, his heart bursting from the rush of power, exploding from his back in a gush of blood and bone. Victor looked at the ice man, the only one left standing. The man's khaki shorts were stained, the rank odor of urine filling the air as it poured down his leg.

"P-please...please don't hurt me..." he begged, frozen with fear.  
Instantly, Victor was standing behind him, whispering in his ear. "I only needed one of you to get away." he said, referring to the second stone man who'd already bolted.  
The man started to sob uncontrollably, still stuttering a pathetic plea for mercy. "Don't worry," Victor said, "it only hurts for a second."

With his hand on the man's head, Victor let a quick burst of power spill from his hand with such quick and ferocious intensity, it burst, the man having not even a second to cry in pain. The headless body wobbled and took a step forward, still recieving phantom signals from a brain now scattered all over the pavement, before falling to its knees and finally to the ground. Victor, covered in blood and thick bits of man, extended the natural energy shield surrounding him a few inches from his body. The gore clung to the shield instead of him, and when he dropped the shield all together, the blood and bits fell harmlessly to the sidewalk. Victor walked towards the toppled bag of groceries left behind and picked it up, plucking a banana from inside. He peeled it, popped the tip into his mouth, and continued on his way with a hum.

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Ending Notations: That's it for the prelude/chapter 1. I'm working as I can and hopefully chapter 2 will be up soon enough. I hope you enjoyed yourself. 

Copyright Me: Victor

PlayNC: City of Heroes, Hellions, Circle of Thorns


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